Overview
- Judges ruled that administrative courts may examine whether ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio fulfill their program mandate, overturning lower courts that had sent complainants solely to broadcasters’ oversight boards.
- The case of a Bavarian plaintiff was remanded to the Bavarian Higher Administrative Court with strict instructions to assess evidence over at least two years and to rely typically on scientific studies.
- The court set a high bar: only a gross, sustained deficit in pluralism across the entire public‑service offering could undermine the legal equivalence that justifies the contribution.
- If a lower court finds such system‑wide shortcomings, it must refer the question of the fee’s constitutionality to the Federal Constitutional Court; the Leipzig panel called that outcome unlikely on the current record.
- The fee level remains unchanged at €18.36 per month, and a separate reform to the fee‑setting process has faced resistance in several states and is reported to be faltering.